Prof. Milton Wainwright (and his research team) announced in 2013, that they had discovered a microscopic algae termed ‘diatom’, gathered from the Earth’s stratosphere, through the use of a research balloon that reached heights of between 14 miles and 17 miles. The balloon’s function was to collect samples of material from the upper-reaches of this portion of the atmosphere, a task that it fulfilled very efficiently. Although microbes in the atmosphere are not uncommon, carried up by winds and storms, etc, Prof. Wainwright argues that the microbes that his probe discovered are ‘too large; to have been carried so high up into the Earth’s higher atmosphere by any known natural means. Therefore, the conclusion of Prof. Wainwright is that these microscopic life-forms originated ‘outside’ of the Earth’s atmosphere, and are, therefore, extraterrestrial in origin.

Mainstream scientific opinion is cautious in this case, without completely denying Prof. Wainwright’s conclusions. The general opinion is that in and of itself, an exceptionally large microscopic life-form in the atmosphere does not necessarily suggest it has an extraterrestrial origin. There may be a mechanism, for instance, that can transport this large microbe into the higher levels of the Earth’s atmosphere, that has not yet been identified and understood by scientists. However, Prof. Wainwright states that there is absolutely ‘no’ vestiges of any Earth substances (such as grass or pollen), on any of these microbes. If these microbes had originated on Earth and been transported to the higher atmosphere (perhaps through a volcanic incident), then all evidence of its Earth origination would have to be ‘purged’ from its surface, without damaging the microbe itself. As matters stand, the origins of these microbes are as of yet ‘undetermined’, with Prof. Wainwright preferring the ‘extra-terrestrial’ hypothesis. It is interesting to note that the scientific establishment has not altogether dismissed Prof. Wainwright’s conclusions – just incase it turns-out he has made one of the greatest discoveries in the history of science! Whilst humanity spends billions of dollars trying to perfect space travel (and the search for extra-terrestrial life), it might just be that we as a species are looking in the wrong place (or the wrong way), and that alien life has already found us!